Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is known to call a spade a spade. So he did by stating that the names of the places which are contradictory to the civilization and culture of the state and are derogatory to any case or community should be changed.
In a tweet shared on Wednesday, the Chief Minister also announced that a portal will be launched for inviting suggestions on the change of names of places across the state, adding that the name of a city, town, or village should represent its culture, tradition, and civilization.
Sarma, while speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony of a medical college in Guwahati, said that his government will change the names of the places and villages which are not in consonance with the state’s culture and tradition.
During this while, he also spoke about a web portal that will be launched for the public where they can apply for changing the name of their own localities. He also mentioned the name of Guwahati’s Kalaphar area further saying that it was named after Kalapahad, the Muslim General of Bengal Sultanate who attacked the Kamakhya temple, and the name must thus be removed and replaced by a suitable name in consultation with the people.
Notably, the Assam CM came under the fire last year when he renamed the Rajiv Gandhi National Park to Orang National Park, a decision which was taken on the requests of the tea tribe community. Further clarifying on this, Sarma said that there is no tradition of naming national parks after political leaders.
The Assam government’s decision comes in view of the name-changing practice carried out in Uttar Pradesh by CM Yogi Adityanath. The BJP government in UP, which has already renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj, changed the name of Faizabad railway station to Ayodhya Cantonment.
